scientists denounce the instrumentalization of their reports by the oil giant

This position comes a few days after France 2’s “Cash Investigation” program devoted to TotalEnergies. To defend itself, the energy group had cited the IPCC on social networks, a use of their work which finished exasperating these scientists. They recall in their text that this is not the first time that the fossil fuel industry has carried out “disinformation” on global warming. They express themselves here freely.

In response to the investigation carried out by “Cash Investigation” on its activities, TotalEnergies publicly refers to IPCC reports to justify its investments in new hydrocarbon fields.

In response to #cashinvestigation : the 2022 IPCC report does not say that we should no longer develop new oil or gas fields.

— TotalEnergies (@TotalEnergies) January 26, 2023

However, TotalEnergies is very far from taking into account the conclusions of the IPCC in the evaluation of its carbon neutrality strategy aimed at complying with the commitments of the Paris agreement, reaffirmed at the last COP27. The only reference to the IPCC reports in the TotalEnergies report which describes this strategy is that relating to the weight of methane on the current warming. No mention of the dominant role of cumulative CO2 emissions on current and future warming, although this is the key element of the IPCC conclusions because each additional tonne of CO2 in the atmosphere contributes to warming additional. Nothing either on the impacts of climate change, nor on the financial risks of devaluation of assets linked to fossil fuels.

TotalEnergies’ vision of the energy transition is based on new synthetic fuels, the electrification of uses and liquefied natural gas (LNG) to respond, according to the company, to the “growing energy needs of populations”. Thus, TotalEnergies plans to continue its development throughout the LNG chain with the aim of consolidating its position as world number 3.

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However, the IPCC concludes that “Limiting warming to well below 2°C will require major transformations of the global energy system over the next thirty years” and especially “a reduction in the consumption of fossil fuels”with “a significant reduction in investment in coal, oil and gas”. The IPCC points out that “if global fossil fuel use is not reduced below current levels by 2030, it will be more difficult to limit warming to below 2°C”.

“TotalEnergies ignores the consequences of the development of LNG for the climate.”

The authors of the forum

on franceinfo.fr

TotalEnergies disqualifies the roadmaps for the energy transition based on the reduction of energy demand, while the IPCC has rightly devoted an entire chapter to the essential role of the reduction of demand to succeed in stabilizing global warming within a few decades. and therefore limit the risks linked to climate change: global greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced by 40% to 70% in 2050 compared to those of 2019, if the roadmaps for the energy transition were based on the needs of the populations in services (ie mobility, thermal comfort, etc.) and not the energy supply as TotalEnergies does.

With regard to investments, TotalEnergies plans to invest over the period 2022-2025 up to 16 billion dollars per year, of which 70% in hydrocarbons, and to devote more than half to the maintenance of oil installations, aiming to intensify the production of plastics until 2050. The investments planned by TotalEnergies over the same period in renewable energies represent only 25% of the total, which is equivalent to the sum of investments in LNG and new molecules doubling its fossil gas sales by 2030. This strategy will result in a multi-decade carbon lock-in of the energy system.

These investments would, according to TotalEnergies, be offset by the development of carbon capture and storage activities, so-called circular economy activities that enhance the use of oil, and “nature-based solutions”, including large-scale plantations of monocultures in place of savannahs. However, the IPCC box on the “nature-based solutions” is very clear: “afforestation of areas such as savannahs that would not be naturally forested harms biodiversity, increases vulnerability to climate change, and cannot be considered a nature-based solution, possibly even worsening greenhouse gas emissions Greenhouse”.

In short, no upstream avoidance strategy for emissions by TotalEnergies, and a risky gamble based on immature solutions that use fossil fuels. However, the IPCC assessment is clear on this subject:

“The more we invest in fossil fuels, the more difficult it will be to decarbonize the energy system and limit the risks to the economy, health and biodiversity.”

The authors of the forum

on franceinfo.fr

Finally, TotalEnergies sets itself targets in terms of carbon intensity over the life cycle of the products sold (the ratio between the quantity of emissions for the production and use of a product and the energy produced). This approach minimizes the responsibility of TotalEnergies to decarbonize its activity (by transferring it to the users of its products) and above all is not transparent with regard to the only elements that matter for the climate: the absolute emissions of CO2 and methane. In fact, the total carbon footprint of TotalEnergies’ activities, as described in its strategy, would imply a stagnation of greenhouse gas emissions around 400 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent per year by 2030, whereas the trajectories assessed by the IPCC allowing the warming to be kept well below 2°C or close to 1.5°C imply a reduction in global emissions of around 27 and 43% respectively, compared to 2020.

It is hard to imagine that a large group like TotalEnergies does not realize the mismatch between its strategy aimed at carbon neutrality and the latest scientific conclusions, or the recommendations of the UN High Level Panel on the integrity of neutrality strategies. carbon which recommends eliminating fossil fuels from the energy mix.

The 2022 IPCC reports highlight decades of fossil fuel industry misinformation strategies, undermining the state of scientific knowledge about the consequences of greenhouse gas emissions and the risks of global warming. they provoke. This strategy partly explains the lack of ambition of climate policies, the slowness of the reorientation of financing away from fossil fuels, and the gravity of the situation today, with the impacts of climate change worsening in all regions. world, more than 30 years after the publication of the first IPCC report.

The petitioners :

Yamina Saheb, OpenExp, SciencesPo Paris
Wolfgang Cramer, CNRS, Mediterranean Institute of Biodiversity and Ecology, Aix-en-Provence
Valérie Masson-Delmotte, CEA – IPSL, Paris Saclay University
Jean-Baptiste Sallée, CNRS, LOCEAN-IPSL, Paris
Gonéri Le Cozannet, BRGM, Orleans
Christophe Cassou, CNRS, Cerfacs, Toulouse
Sophie Szopa, CEA, LSCE-IPSL, Paris-Saclay University
Sonia I. Seneviratne, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Gerhard Krinner, CNRS, IGE Grenoble
Céline Guivarch, School of Bridges, CIRED
Julia Steinberger, University of Lausanne